This is a proposal for an ADAMHA RSDA Level 1 to develop the investigator's capacity to conduct research on the effects of legal regulation on psychiatric care. This goal requires a good grasp of empirical and historical research techniques and the relevant law. Gaps in the investigator's current training as a clinical researcher would be filled by course work in biostatistics, epidemiology, design of evaluative and semi-quantitative research, and particular aspects of law. In addition, the investigator proposes to obtain training through course work and a supervised research experience that would enable him to examine the historical evolution of legal controls on psychiatry and to draw contemporary implications from those findings. The investigator will apply the knowledge gained in the training period to the further development and completion of a research proposal that would examine a particularly important area of legal regulation - commitment law. Recent judicial rulings and statutory changes have pushed the standard for civil commitment away from a "need for treatment" and toward "dangerous." Although critics charge that the shift has prevented many patients from receiving needed care, and thus should be reversed, valid empirical evaluation of that contention has been lacking. The investigator proposes to identify and follow for two years cohorts of patients in two jurisdictions, each with one of the commitment standards in question. Analysis would focus on the effect of the standard on decision making about commitment and the effect of commitment decisions on patient outcomes. These findings will be integrated with an historical analysis of the evolution of commitment law in the jurisdictions to identify implications for commitment policy. The research will serve as a model for the type of empirical research the investigator proposes to conduct in the future with the training obtained during the RSDA period.